Departmental Flexible Working

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff  (a) have applied to work flexible hours and  (b) work flexible hours (i) in the Department and (ii) the executive agencies for which the Department is responsible.

Anne McGuire: For the last full year for which headcount statistics are held (year ending 31 December 2006), 41,187 (33.9 per cent.) of employees in the Department for Work and Pensions, and its Executive Agencies, worked part-time. Included within that figure are employees taking advantage of the various options available to employees to assist their work/life balance—term time working, compressed working weeks, job sharing, and home working, in addition to what is normally regarded as part-time working. We do not collect the figures for those who have applied to work part-time.
	The Department has in place a process which allows parents, adopters, guardians or foster carers of children under six years of age or of disabled children under the age of 18, and for carers of adults, to apply to work flexibly in line with legislation. It additionally accepts requests from any employee with over 26 weeks in the Department who wishes to apply to work a flexible working pattern. Any employee with over 26 weeks in the Department may apply to change working pattern twice a year.
	Flexible start and finish times are offered by all businesses within the Department, with the details of each scheme being tailored to their business requirements. Employees and their managers are thus able to accommodate informal arrangements where the needs of the Department and the individual can both be accommodated, without the need for recording a formal change to working pattern.

Departmental NDPBs

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the  (a) budget and  (b) remit is of each non-departmental public body sponsored by his Department; who the chairman is of each; and to what salary, including bonuses and expenses, each chairman is entitled.

Anne McGuire: The information requested with regard to the non-departmental public bodies sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions can be found on the Department's Internet site at the following location
	http://www.dwp.gov.uk/ndpb/public_bodies.asp#ndpb.

National Insurance: Elderly

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many  (a) women aged 60 and over and  (b) men aged 65 and over will have accrued 30 years National Insurance contributions before April 2010.

James Plaskitt: The latest information available indicates that at the end of the financial year 2003-04 there were around 60,000 women and around 10,000 men between state pension age and age 80 who had accrued exactly 30 qualifying years for basic state pension.
	 Notes:
	1. Figures refer to people who are estimated to be resident in the UK in 2003-04.
	2. Entitlement to basic state pension depends on a number of factors including the number of qualifying years accrued, Home Responsibilities Protection and the spouse's contribution record.
	3. Detailed information is not available for people aged 80 and over due to archiving of records from the National Insurance Recording System.
	 Source:
	Lifetime Labour Market Database 2, 2003-04

Older Workers

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what form the 50+ face-to-face guidance work options pilot project is expected to take;
	(2)  how many people aged 50 years will be consulted by each of the six contractors participating in the 50+ face-to-face guidance work options pilot project.

Caroline Flint: The pilot will look at innovative ways of encouraging people to seek information when they are thinking about how and when to retire as well as making use of flexible working options to help them remain in work or work for longer. It will test different communication methods depending on the geographical area and population and will focus on the delivery of face-to-face guidance tailored to the particular needs of the individual. The contractors will use their knowledge of the local labour market, employers, and other organisations in the local area to design and test out different formats.
	In addition, this will test how many people aged 50 and over will be attracted to take-up the guidance on offer by each of the contractors. We will be closely monitoring levels of participation generated by each of the contractors.

Pension Credit: Overpayments

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many overpayments there were of pension credits in each of the last three years; what the average sum involved was; and how much has been or is expected to be recouped from the executors of deceased pension credits claimants.

Mike O'Brien: holding answer 13 November 2007
	 The information relating to the volumes and average value of all pension credit overpayments identified in the last three years are in the following table:
	
		
			   Volume  Average value (£) 
			 2004-05 23,000 240 
			 2005-06 59,000 230 
			 2006-07 169,000 547 
		
	
	The large increase in overpayments identified in 2006/07 reflects the Department's effort in improving the management and recovery of overpayments and in reducing error in the benefits system, including the identification and removal of error from the pension credit caseload. The increase in average value in 2006-07 is due to the priority attached to tackling high value error and the fact that overpayments identified could have existed since the introduction of pension credit in October 2003.
	Information relating to how much has been recovered from executors of deceased pension credit claimants is only available from 2006, and is in the following table. Information relating to how much is expected to be recouped is not available.
	
		
			   Amount recovered (£) 
			 2006-07 4,869,000